Encumbered by a silly press release studded with such revelatory gems as “paintings are typically two-dimensional,” Daniel Hesidence’s new paintings make a strong impression nonetheless. A series of large panels, thickly coated with textured oil paint inscribed with layers of outlined forms suggesting tools, bones, figures or maps, seems to belong to the distant past. The panels’ surfaces are pitted like rough stone, which in conjunction with their schematic imagery, gives them the look of cave paintings, relics from some lost civilization.
One of four “volumes” (the artist’s preferred term) named for the seasons, “Summers Gun” features varied palettes of dappled hues suggesting nature in full bloom. The others, some of which appeared in 2013’s Venice Biennale, also boast appropriate colorways. What differs from series to series is Hesidence’s paint application, which has shifted from meandering brushstrokes to congealed agglomerations. There’s a likeable note of genuine experimentation in all this, a readiness to risk unlovely visual effects in order to push ideas; Hesidence pursues them confidently, even when the result defies neat explanation.